My First Driftwood

[MrMcKenna]

Hey all, Just found a potential first piece of driftwood!
Just wondering if there could be any sort of change to my water when I add it in after soaking in the water bleach solution.

Here's some pics of the driftwood, I'm going to be cutting it down to size to fit into my tank shortly.

P.S.... any idea what type of wood this is?

[MrMcKenna]

Hey all, Just found a potential first piece of driftwood!
Just wondering if there could be any sort of change to my water when I add it in after soaking in the water bleach solution.

Here's some pics of the driftwood, I'm going to be cutting it down to size to fit into my tank shortly.

P.S.... any idea what type of wood this is?

[Lady Hobbs]

Was this raw wood taken from the wild? (There is no photo.)

When I get it from the wild, it can only be hardwood with no bark still attached. I bring it home, scrub it with a wire brush, cut off any sharp pieces, and throw it in a trash can with a whole box of table salt. (Salt kills bugs.) Soak it for a couple days and throw it in the tank.

If I buy wood from the pet store, it has already been processed. I throw it in the tank without doing anything. People work so hard when they add a chunk of wood to their tank for some reason. Water changes get rid of the tannins soon enough.

[Lady Hobbs]

I merged both your posts together.

I would not use that stump part in pic 2. It appears to be rotting already. Could this be pine? Pine is soft wood and will float and quickly rot. You can use the branches tho (pic 1) if you can keep them down.

[MrMcKenna]

Thanks for the reply, I tried to leave a mark with my fingernail and didn't get anything. All the pics are the same piece and I now have it soaking in a water/bleach solution (I read that this will kill any harmful stuff on the wood somewhere) after a good ol pressure wash.

I was also just thinking of cutting a part of it off and just using that for the tank cause it is a pretty large piece.

[Lady Hobbs]

I don't think I'd use bleach myself. The wood is dry and will suck up that bleach solution. I have used a bleach dip to kill algae on my wood but it was already water logged so would not absord the solution.

Since you are using the bleach, I think I would allow it to air dry again or soak it in a strong solution of dechlorinator before putting it in the tank.

[MrMcKenna]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking of doing, it certainly will take a while until my driftwood is ready for my tank. I am going to air dry it and then probably sand it down or use a wire brush to get it looking nice, cut my piece off and then soak it in the dechlorinator until it sinks.

[KatzeSlaugen]

depedning on how adept you are when i get new wood i usually just power wash it to clean off the dirt/grime/whatever is there. i bake it at 150 for about an hour to kill anything. then i drill a piece of my slate (have close to a hundred pounds...it just keep smultiplying) and litterally screw it to the slate with a stainless steel lag bolt. it eventually gets water logged but the slate with substrate holds it down until then, and it also lets me place wood in my tank in ways i wouldnt be able to if it was just water logged

[Lady Hobbs]

I have done the same thing to wood when it will not sink. Some of the soft woods will never sink. It's just too light and probably why Indians made canoes out of it. LOL